I write about these imaginations we have about the Galapagos as a pristine, nearly untouched place. That really isn’t accurate, but it is often what tourists hear about the archipelago. And I think that does a disservice to the people who live and work there. They play essential roles in conservation and the tourism economy, but if the islands are supposed to be pristine, then where do they belong?...Sounds like it's better to be a cruise ship tourist, because you minimize yourself and remain under control and you get steered to the things that are (almost) pristine and see the distinctive animals made you want to go to that specific place. But Hennessy is stressing the local people — bringing more money to them and getting to know them — and yet you know very well that people do not spend all that money and travel all that way to get to know the human beings who happen to live in the Galapagos.
With cruise ships it’s easier to control tourism ... (visitors) are with a naturalist guide the whole time. When you’re staying in town, the park can’t have that kind of control. But land-based tourism is an important way for money to stay in the local economy. I think there’s a problem with tourist mentality. I think it’s troubling that we want to go some place and check off a list of animals we want to see. I would encourage people to try to get to know what it’s like to live in the Galapagos and be more engaged with local communities....
February 9, 2020
The tortoise and the tourist.
I'm reading "More than tortoises: UW-Madison professor writes about the real Galapagos" (in The Wisconsin State Journal). This is an interview with Elizabeth Hennessy, author of "On the Backs of Tortoises: Darwin, the Galapagos, and the Fate of an Evolutionary Eden":
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Sometimes a ham turns up there. HD8M
The Galapagos that draws the tourists wouldn’t last two weeks if it was thing to live there among the locals.
pristine
That's not a word I associate with nature.
What does it mean? No people? No germs? No change? Not really natural?
check off a list of animals we want to see.
be more engaged with local communities
Check off a list of the local communities you want to engage with.
But, how about those colorful locals in the communities? Did anyone ask them if they want to engage with a bunch of tourists day after day?
That is such a colonialist attitude. What makes her think the local people want to get to know the tourists.
Speaking of local communities -
"[Jordan Peterson] is being treated at a clinic in Russia after being repeatedly misdiagnosed at several hospitals in North America, [his daughter] said."
But Hennessy is stressing the local people — bringing more money to them and getting to know them — and yet you know very well that people do not spend all that money and travel all that way to get to know the human beings who happen to live in the Galapagos.
One way to get to interact with the locals: send ships of eco-lefties there to tell the locals to leave...
What does it mean? No people? No germs? No change? Not really natural?
It means no people. Untouched by the hands of man.
Is that so hard to grasp?
And, because you are "from away" and trying to insert yourself into the local lifestyle the residents will view you with askance. It takes a minimum of three consecutive years of returning to a local before the locals let down their insular guard that keeps you at arms length. Been there. Done that.
Not sure a western culture, less than 200 years old based on tourism, on a small island, is going to augment the "natural" much. The black water on a cruise ship has to go somewhere.
The people who live in Venice hate the Germans because they arrive in huge buses and eat and sleep on them. They march through Venice like an army and spend nothing. Sort of like cruise ship tourists.
I would rather have my fingernails plucked out, one by one, or my hair set on fire than board a cruise ship. But some people like 'em.
@mockturtle,
@mockturtle,
And now I'm imagining the Kathy Lee Gifford commercial for Carnival Cruises where she plucks out your nails and sets your hair afire while singing
In the morning,
[rip!]
in the evening,
[singe!]
Ain't we got fun!
Not a fan of cruise ships, never been on one. I have, however, island-hopped on multiple occasions around the Aegean, taking aged ships (ferries and tramp steamers and the like) to get from one island to another. Not luxurious or glamorous, but great fun and often exciting. Well, maybe it was glamorous in a romantic donwnscale sort of way. I've never felt more free than when I wandered for a couple of month around the Aegean in this fashion with nothing more than a backpack.
Ah youth. I was so much younger then ...
I love cruise ships, but I can testify that it's a rare cruiser who steps into a local restaurant when 24 hour food is available on ship. In my world restaurants are the way to get to know a place.
Yeah, we don't want KAOS on the Galapagos, we want Control. Keep the sheep penned up and Shepard them around.
I hate cruise ships. They're ruined a lot of places, by allowing slothful fat bodies to visit far away places in comfort. once they arrive, they chew their cud and tramp around mooing and gawking, and they go back on their ship. Before, it was an effort to get there. Now all you need is a ticket.
"You're doing that wrong."
The "real Galapagos"... oh, spare me another lecture.
Come for the tortoises, stay for the coronavirus.
Pristine, untouched by human hands? Ah, so easy.
Before/after pictures of the beauty of nature leaving a pristine mountain landscape.
https://strangesounds.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/mt-st-helens-eruption-before-after-photo.jpg
I didn't say "pristine" was pretty. In many instances, it isn't. It means only that is humans are not involved in any way, shape, or form. It's not about appearance and aesthetics, it refers to a state of being. That state of being can be beautiful in appearance, ugly, tidy, messy. But in any case, humans are not not in the picture.
As you might expect, I'm no fan of "pristine" nature. I'm ambivalent toward it. It is, in and of itself, neither good nor bad. It simply is. The problem, for me: it "is," but without toilets. And I like toilets.
Accomodations for cruise ships are less invasive than, say, an international airport and a bunch of hotels. Last I looked, Bermuda had strict controls on cruise ship visits.
A day ending in Y. Must be time for another gratuitous, sneering post about travel.
...and then Freda arrived with a tortoise...
As far as I know locals always have mixed attitudes about tourists, mostly along the lines of, wouldn't it be nice if we could have the tourists' money without having to put up with the tourists?
At a minimum, tourists usually have more money to spend than locals do (at least while they're on vacation), and that in itself will create some resentment, perhaps a bit like the town/gown found in many college towns.
But the real question is, why would you travel to the Galapagos just because Darwin was there? Because, really, Darwin departed a long time ago, and of course the islands are nothing like they were when Darwin visited them (nor, really, is much of anywhere else) and what, exactly, do you expect to find there that you couldn't just read about?
Is it something like a religious pilgrimage? If so, what is the faith? If not, what's there that you can't find elsewhere? (For surely evidence of biological evolution can be found practically everywhere, if you look for it.) I understand that people like to go to interesting places, but what's so interesting about the Galapagos anyway?
Is it something like a religious pilgrimage? If so, what is the faith? If not, what's there that you can't find elsewhere? (For surely evidence of biological evolution can be found practically everywhere, if you look for it.) I understand that people like to go to interesting places, but what's so interesting about the Galapagos anyway?
Because it's so isolated, there are a lot of animals you can see in the Galapagos that you won't see anywhere else, giant tortoises, sea iguanas, etc.
As you mentioned, the local people there are probably pretty similar to local people in any other touristy place as far as how they would interact with tourists.
It's frankly insane to think that cruise ships help to control the impact of tourism better.
All over the world there are sites that, because they are otherwise off the beaten path/away from major highways and railways, would normally get no more than 100-300 visitors a day, that now regularly get cruise ships disgorging 2500 people *each* from multiple ships from different lines into them on multiple days a week.
So areas around the globe that the sole attraction to them was how isolated and peaceful they are, like Tahiti, Italy's Cinque Terra villages, or England's Cornwall, among many others, are being utterly trampled, worn out, and broken by the cruise lines' industrial horde transport system.
I found a piece of sea turtle this afternoon. It was a little old, Miocene.
You can get to Cinque Terre and Cornwall by train. Not the Galapagos, though.
Fernandistein, re your OT comment:
I have certainly been expecting Jordy to crash and burn, to the extent that he hadn't already... but never once did I expect that Russia would be involved. Man, that Putin guy is everywhere!
Pristine nature is trying to kill you 24/7.
"...people do not spend all that money and travel all that way to get to know the human beings who happen to live in the Galapagos."
Maybe the MSM could take a cruise up the Mississippi....
We flew to the Galapagos. We found the local people to be almost fanatically environmentally conscious (as they are in most of Ecuador) and very welcoming. We had a lovely time...great food, great conversations, great tours with local guides.
"I would encourage people to try to get to know what it’s like to live in the Galapagos and be more engaged with local communities...."
Shorter version: Why can't everyone be just like her?
As it happens, most of the Galapagos islands are uninhabited. No one is allowed to visit then without a naturalist as a guide. So if you want to see them, it's going to be from a ship. A good bit of the 'seeing' is done underwater (snorkel). My wife and I did that a few years ago (with an alumni group from MIT), and enjoyed it a lot. The ships are small (about 100 passengers), so it's nothing like the huge cruise ships. Not for everyone, but we liked it.
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